


We gotta be sneaky about the gay Biana

by turnyourfavgay



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1940s, Alternate Universe - Human, F/F, Fitz is a bi disaster, Homophobia, Lesbian Biana Vacker, M/M, Pining, Probably ooc, They are making a movie, Trans tam, biana just thinks girls are pretty, butch marella, do i project onto biana: yes, i gave the vackers realistic sibling dynamics fight me, i will add more tags, implied aro ace maruca, oh sophie is bi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24851917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turnyourfavgay/pseuds/turnyourfavgay
Summary: Fitz has always dreamed of being a director. Biana can do makeup, supports her brother, and is a big lesbian thank you very much. Yeah, so maybe having a lead actor who was publically outed wasn't great for 1940s publicity but Fitz was going to use any available resources including his sister's co-worker's friends. This was going to be bad.
Relationships: Keefe Sencen/Tam Song, Marella Redek/Linh Song, Sophie Foster/Biana Vacker
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	1. we have to start somewhere

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I finally did it. I can't promise consistent updates whatsoever though, but I guess we'll see. Thanks for checking this out, feedback is always appreciated!

A knock woke Biana followed not by silence, but by the constant grumbling of the ship engine that she still wasn’t used to. Fitz stood outside her door grimy with oil and dirt, but his smile was as bright as ever as he dropped onto Biana’s unmade bunk.  
“Off, you’re dirty you bastard” Biana scolded.

Fitz was undeterred as he slid down onto the floor. “So I was thinking-” Fitz started and it took all of Biana’s willpower to not make a sarcastic remark, “you know how I’ve wanted to be a director since we were kids?” he glanced at Biana waiting for her to nod, “I know we already had a plan to stay in New York but could we go to Hollywood instead?”

Biana could list a number of issues with this plan off the top of her head, but the one she decided to voice was their lack of funds. Biana could see by the determined set of Fitz’s jaw that he already had a counter-argument prepared but she held her hand up to stop him before he could say anything.

“I’ll think about it” Biana relented too tired to listen to Fitz’s barrage of excuses, “your break is probably almost over, get back to work” She punctuated this statement by hoisting Fitz up by his elbow and shoving him towards the door. Fitz grumbled under his breath as the door swung shut behind him. 

Biana sighed as she slumped back down onto the thin mattress. The small clock that Biana was fairly certain didn’t work read eleven in the morning. She didn’t have too long to think over Fitz’s proposition, they were going to reach the port in a day. Fitz was too impulsive for his own good and Biana's willingness to go along with his plans didn't help matters.

Biana pulled on one of her less tattered dresses not in the mood to be accused of being a stowaway yet again. The clock must not have been too off Biana figured as she leaned over the side of the ship. Berlin felt further than a single boat journey away, at that moment Biana felt distinctly free, salty wind tangling her dark hair, eyes closed against the bright sunlight. 

\----------------

Biana was woken up against her will again, this time Fitz was shaking her arm roughly.  
“We’re here”, despite Biana barely registering his words she waved him away. Fitz left the room with a roll of his eyes. The clock read eleven yet again, okay it is definitely broken Biana thought. Gathering her things a little haphazardly and shoving them into her old bag she rushed out the door.

Biana’s feet planted onto solid land, she barely had time to adjust to her surroundings before she had to follow Fitz who apparently didn’t wait for anyone. Just as Biana was about to reach Fitz a short boy shoved a newspaper under her nose. A large black and white photo had taken up the majority of the front page. It was of an actress in her mid-twenties like Biana was, the headline beneath it read Sophie Foster messed up once again, this time it is permanent. Biana couldn’t even finish politely declining before the child huffed and stalked away.

Biana followed Fitz in a daze. Sophie was a well-known actress, Biana wasn’t particularly invested in the movie industry but Sophie, in particular, had piqued her interest. Whether it was due to her dazzlingly beautiful looks or her general presence, she could never figure out. Biana was about to ask Fitz about her when he suddenly turned down a narrow alleyway. 

The two arrived at a brightly painted front door, it swung open mid knock to reveal Maruca, taller and more mature than the last time they had seen each other. Biana and Maruca were childhood friends that had miraculously never lost contact. When Maruca had heard that the two were coming to New York she had offered them a place to stay and they had accepted, relieved because to be perfectly honest they had pretty much no money. 

The three sat around Maruca’s kitchen table catching up, apparently, Maruca had gotten a new job and was living relatively comfortably. Ever since they were kids Maruca had been adamant against the idea of falling in love. She had wrote to Biana about her struggles eventually deciding she was fine surrounding herself only with friends. 

By the time they had finished talking darkness had descended upon the house. Maruca gave them extra blankets before shuffling into her room. Biana settled onto the couch as Fitz attempted to make the hard ground bearable.

\----------------

Biana’s back had been aching since she woke up, she had hoped it would go away at some point but she had no such luck. She was washing the dishes, yet she could feel Fitz twitching impatiently at the table. 

“We can go if we get some money,” Biana said as she finished drying the last bowl. She turned towards Fitz to see a grin threaten to split his face. Biana rolled her eyes as she sat down across from him. “Where are you getting the money from?”

“Way ahead of you sis! I didn’t just work on that damn engine for pleasure on the way over, and before you ask-” Fitz started noticing Biana’s raised brow “it is enough for both of us.”

“Go to the station later and buy us tickets for tomorrow or the next day,” Biana told Fitz, who tugged on his jacket eagerly at the request and stepped outside.

\----------------

Thunder echoed around the small room the next morning. Maruca shuddered as she slid a coat around her shoulders.  
“It sucks that you have to travel in this weather,” she said with a small frown. Biana hummed in agreement pouring herself another cup of tea. It was unlikely the rain would let up at this point and Fitz had bought their train tickets were already.

“Well, I’m off,” Maruca turned to Biana “you better write to me I’m not putting up with another month-long wait for a letter.” Maruca hugged Biana pulling away after a second or two, ruffling Fitz’s hair on her way out the door.

As predicted the rain hadn’t let up by noon. By the time the siblings had reached the train station, they were both thoroughly drenched. They settled into their seats prepared for a long journey ahead.

\-----------------

About an hour into circling aimlessly around the station in Hollywood. Biana and Fitz stumbled upon a clearly unkept motel. Fitz’s nose wrinkled in disgust but Biana paid him no mind, pulling the flimsy door open. A young woman looked up at their entrance poorly masking her surprise.

The room was cheap, but for good reason. The floor was dirty, and the thin mattresses were covered in ratty blankets, tiles were cracked in the bathroom and one of the windows was boarded over. They had seen worse, and at this point were too tired to mind the state it was in. Biana collapsed onto her bed which was more comfortable than Maruca’s couch but that wasn’t saying much. 

Sunlight peaked through the curtains as Biana sat up with a groan. Despite the cheapness of the room they only had enough money to stay for about a week, never mind needing money for food. Biana sorted through Fitz’s bags, but gave up unable to find any money. 

Bianca walked out into the main room of the motel. The young woman was still there but her dark hair was no longer wrapped into a tight bun. She didn’t seem unapproachable, she wasn’t exactly bubbly looking either though. 

“Do you know where I can find a job?” Biana asked tentatively. The woman hummed in thought, brows furrowing.  
“There’s a shitty diner a couple of streets over that’s always hiring,” she finally offered.

Biana thanked the woman following the directions she gave her. They led her to a diner with chipping pink paint. Biana grinned at a sign in the window that read Now Hiring.

There weren’t many customers but that was expected at a quarter past six. Biana glanced around the room, eyes landing on a woman about her age facing away from her. She was wearing a baby blue uniform and her jet black hair was pulled back into a cap. 

Biana’s eyebrows rose in surprise when she turned around. The end of her bangs were silver. The woman started to walk towards Biana way too peppy for the hour. 

“I’m Linh, how may I help you?”  
“Uhm well I was wondering if you were still hiring,” Biana said gesturing vaguely towards the sign.

Linh nodded motioning for Biana to follow her. Linh led her through an empty door frame back into what must have served as a kitchen. An old man was hunched over a pot on the stovetop. Linh cleared her throat and he turned around. He was wrinkled, bright blue eyes widening at the sight of Biana.

“Job offer?” The man questioned without preamble.  
“Forkle, what else could it be?”  
“I don’t know you told me you were going to bring your gir-” the man who Biana presumed was Forkle stopped talking at Linh’s sharp glare, but the effect was ruined by Linh’s cheeks flushing.

Forkle chuckled looking over at Biana once again,” I guess we can make do with this one.”


	2. You, my dear sir, are a moron

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz is a dumbass and way too reckless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally updated this. Does anyone remember that I was writing this, Probably not? oh well.

Fitz may have been panicking when he woke up an hour later than he intended to but no one needed to know that. He was supposed to visit Tiergan quite soon after he arrived so he would be able to secure a job. Fitz hastily dressed and made his way into the main room the motel. An elderly lady had taken the young woman’s place at the desk. 

“Ma’am do you know where Foxfire studios’ is located?” the old lady gave him a blank look. Fitz sighed thanking her nonetheless and walked into the street which was steadily filling up.

Fitz wandered around for a little bit finally making his way towards a main road where he was able to ask for directions that were hopefully correct. He followed the directions a kid a few years younger gave him. Fitz was starting to lose hope as the sun peaked in the sky when he saw a sign indicating his arrival.

Fitz walked into the pristine lobby of the studio’s making his way to the front desk. There weren’t many people inside just a few assistants milling about along with a couple people who Fitz could vaguely recall being on newspapers at some point.

“Hello,” Fitz said as he approached the woman at the front desk, “Tiergan should have been expecting me soon”. She asked for his name which he provided eventually giving him directions down a long hallway. 

Fitz entered the office with Tiergan’s name card on it. It was a cluttered mess of papers, folders, and used coffee mugs. Tiergan was leaning back in a flimsy-looking chair reading through a file. Tiergan barely looked up motioning for Fitz to pull up a chair to the desk. Fitz did as he was told patiently waiting for Tiergan to finish reading.

“Hello Fitz,” Tiergan said throwing the file recklessly onto a large stack of papers, “I’m gonna be straight forward with this, I can try to get you a meeting with Leto but you’re going to have low funds at best.”

“Thank you for your help, you really didn’t have to do this,” Fitz replied after a while.  
“I’m aware, it would have been perfectly acceptable for me to tell you to kindly fuck off because of my relationship with your father.”

Fitz winced slightly but remained otherwise neutral. Tiergan excused himself after a few more pleasantries saying he had a meeting to get to and apologized for such a short chat.

Fitz glanced stood up about to leave when his curiosity got the best of him. The way Tiergan had thrown down the folder wasn’t exactly angry but something was just off. Fitz glanced back at the door knowing full well this could blow everything.

The folder was thick containing the applicant’s information, history, resume, things of that nature. Keefe Sencen was his name around his age rather good looking blonde hair, blue eyes, the average Hollywood star. Fitz was finding no reason Tiergan would have been upset until he got to the history. 

Blue discharge was listed in bold right underneath his years of service in the military. Fitz might not have been from America but the blue discharge was rather infamous. It was given to members of the military who were suspected to be participating in homosexual behavior. It was required by law that a blue discharge was listed and known by the employer when you applied for a job. 

_Oh,_ Fitz thought simply. Honestly, he felt rather bad for the guy they were handing out discharges rather _liberally,_ to say the least. It wasn’t even an honorable discharge so it messed up many chances for the rest of your life.

“Low budget,” Fitz muttered under his breath. It hadn’t _looked_ like Tiergan was planning on using this guys file. It’s not like he would miss it. _Fuck it_ Fitz thought snatching the file and trying to figure out how to hold it as inconspicuously as possible. As long as he didn’t run into Tiergan he would be fine.

Fitz walked quickly down the hallway back towards the lobby looking over his shoulder a few more times than was strictly necessary. A few people gave him some weird looks but everyone mostly steered clear from him. He only breathed a sigh of relief when he was a couple of streets away from Foxfire. 

Fitz quickly realized he had a problem he had no idea where he was. He wandered around eventually spotting a dingy theater he had seen on his way here. Fitz made it to the Motel just as evening fell upon the city.

“You did what?”  
“I stole Tiergan’s file.” Biana groaned at Fitz’s response sitting down on the bed.  
“You dear sir, are a moron. Good luck surviving, farewell forever,” Biana said dramatically as she slid onto the floor.

Fitz ignored Biana’s overexaggerated theatrics as he flipped through Keefe’s file once more eyes catching on the blue discharge.

_“Shit what did I do”_

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is really introducing characters and setting up the premise. There is going to be alternating POV between Fitz and Biana throughout the story, tbh it will probably go back and forth each chapter because that's just the way I am.


End file.
